Hi Guys.Just need to clear up something here.I heard a myth that the old style of cars for example my 1970 Beetle,does not have a laminated(right word?) Windscreen this means that if a rock hits it,it will Shatter or crack much more than other windscreens would.My front windscreen is marked Sunzone,but all the others are marked Armourfloat.Does this tell me anything?If this is true ,i intend on taking it to a windscreen place and getting them to laminate it.if they can.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.
~Jas~

Is there any more markings on the glass, down low in one corner possibly, etched.

I would be very surprised if its possible to laminate an existing screen. Laminate meens 'to layer', so its done at the factory, a flexible membrane between two layers of glass. So if broken it still holds together. The non-laminated will shatter into thousands of tiny cubes.

You can do a test to see if its not laminated. Hit it really hard with a hammer, if it shatters into thousands of cubes ... it was the old style.
Do I need to add that I'm joking?

Nah there is not more markings,just "Sunzone Approved to xxxx,Account No.262" yeah so if it is not ,i will be up for a new whole windscreen.Yeh i knew you were joking,that was the first and only test i thought of too.
Now what?

it would be a new laminated style
pretty much every car gets atleast one new windscreen in its life

i';ve put 2 in my Lbug in 10 years

i do have an original flat screen armourfloat one under the house somewhere
its date stamp is 69 from memory
dunno why i've kept ut

So should my stamps have a date on it joel.? if it does what would mean its the old style something like 70?
Thanks

on all the original glass if its amourfloat it will


have a look at the armourfloat and there will be a dot above one of the letters

you can work out what year from that

dont know when they started doing it but in 68 itll be over the 8th letter, 69 9th, 70 10th and 71 is the back to the first and so on

OK,so i went and checked it out.All the ArmourFloat Glass has the dot on the 10th(the a).Where as the front windscreen Sunzone,the dot is on the 2nd.(the u)

Sunzone is zone toughened. It is toughened glass, being original style. It may have been replaced sometime in it's early life, but it was replaced with a toughened glass. You do not have to replace it unless it is sandblasted or unservicable in some way. You may wish to replace it with a new laminated glass anyway. You will find the new glass will give a clarity that you did not realise until the new glass is fitted.

Supply and fit a new laminated glass is about $180 from a reputable windscreen place. If your rubber seal is old, it may be hard and will need to be replaced also to do the job properly. A new good quality seal will cost about $50.

thanks for your help.SO.....will it shatter if hit by a rock?

It MAY shatter if hit by a rock as may any of the other windows in your Beetle. It may be 30 plus years old, so it has done a good job of avoiding rocks so far.

yeah true,Do you think those mesh windscreen protectors(at top) help with rocks? i never thought they did because its only the top couple inches that the windscreen thingo protects.I think they are mainly for shade on your dash.
???

That doesnt make me feel any better at all

There was a simple test for toughened screens (they are not allowed at the race track, by the way) - look at it though a pair of Polaroid sun-glasses. If you see a pattern of 'blotches' it's toughened. You can also make out the 'safety zone'. Not sure if Polaroids are still around - ask your grand-parents, perhaps!

Cheers, Greg

Polaroids are still around, there the best sunglasses to get when fishing. Can get em for chep at most chemists

Toughened glass screens are harder to break and harder to chip, but when they do go, they break into approx 3mm chunks, except for the toughened area in front of the screen with is more like 5-6mm to allow some extra vision.

Laminated screens chip/crack more easily but allow you to continue your journey and can in the case of minor chips can sometimes be repaired.

I've had a toughened one let got at 100km/h on the hume highway approaching Goulburn. The area in front of the drivers seat was still okay to see through to pull off the road. I didn't get any cuts.

I've also had multiple laminated ones break.

Personally I would not worry about the toughened screen. Just carry a roll of tough clear plastic in the car and some electrical tape so you can rig up a temporary screen to get you home, if it ever happens.

Cheers,

$180 plus $50 for a rubber seal and you can get a brand new laminated one fitted now. Thats a few tanks of petrol, a few slabs of beer, a few weeks of smokes, whatever. I would just change it for a new one now.

I have broken several toughened screens over the years - mostly I have had them stay intact and been able to see through the clearer chunks in front of the driver.
The first one I broke was as a young bloke and it was on a wet day. The wipers still worked on it OK, and I drove straight to the VW dealer (still the place to go back then - late 70s) to get it fixed before I got any rain in. I pulled up at the dealership OK, got out, then closed the door. Unfortunately, this compress of air in the car with all the windows up (to keep out the rain) blew the windscreen out over the bonnet in a sheet of little bits. lol.
If you do break a toughened windscreen and want to keep it intact, dont close the door with all the windows up.

Will shade tinting have the same affect?
Thanks for all your help

This is a toughened screen smash. About 27 seconds into clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAB5DpFPnKw 

This is a laminated glass smash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KrDXMCO3PY 

They must be Polaroid sunnys. To toughen the glass, the blow cold air onto the hot glass from jets in a grid pattern. The pattern varies from maker to maker, but ,with the help of the Polaroids, you can see rows of circles in a grid (except for the 'safety zone' ). A laminated screen should be clear, with no pattern. Hope that's - excuse the pun - clear.

Cheers, Greg

Yeha they were polaroid sunny's(i think) all i could see was like a small colourfull oil mark,like when oil is left on the road.I think that might be from when i washed it.i coudlnt see rows of circles.but i will have another look.

more random and useless info... The small colored dots you see on car glass when looking through polarized lenses are from the cooling jets when the glass is made

yeah thats what i thought,i am pretty confident that my glass is toughened.

like my grandma used to say " it didn't break 30 years ago, why would it break now? " hahaha
no about 10 years ago on my way to school in dad's 504 peugeot ute. sitting at the traffic light.
it was toughened glass
it just completely shattered by itself
there were a lot of small 3-5mm pieces everywhere.

I still have Armourfloat windscreen

Just today I had to pull apart a Melbourne hail damage 1962 Beetle for repairs. The front screen was Armourfloat toughened still. The screen came out no problems. The owner wants a new laminated one fitted at his cost for the glass when reassembled. He is in a lucky position where the labour part is taken care of by the insurance. The repairs to this Beetle will be metal finished as per my usual standard of panel restoration repairs.

If you guys want a bit more info on:

Laminated glass check out, http://www.azom.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=88 

Toughened glass http://www.azom.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=87 

Sorry shameless plug for the site I run, but hopefully this explains it all a bit.

Bottom line is, they will both shatter if hit hard enough.

Toughened glass will be more resistant to shattering due to the fact that the heat treatment induces compressive stresses in the glass, but when it goes, it goes.

Laminated glass will crack more easily, but the fact that it has a plastic (PBT) layer sandwiched between 2 layers of glass means that the windscreen will be more likely to stay in place even if badly cracked.